So It Goes
by Feathery-Dreamer
Summary: Drabbles across the timeline. Ficklet 1: "I'm sorry..." – it read – "I think I'm not going to make it... but I'll be coming home around the same time as Barret so, there's at least something to look forward to right?" How hard could it be to take care of the kids for one month without Tifa? Rated T, for Cid.


**Disclaimer: It's a fanfic, the only thing I own is the horrid grammatical mistakes. All rights are reserved to SquareEnix and Nomura.**

 **A/N: It's been a while, need to update my other fics, I know, I know.**

 **I've been playing FFXV, open world and the old FFsoundtracks really tugged the nostalgia chord pretty hard, and then I got thinking about the first FF I played which was the 7th and then I remembered always seeing Cloud as this, forever older person, if that makes any sense.**

 **I've played older FF and the new ones and I don't know when, but at some point the protagonists became younger than me and damn. When I realised that, it kinda shocked me...Still can't help but to see Cloud as older than me even though it ain't the case anymore but ah well, what can you do?**

 **So ranting and existential crisis aside, nostalgia gnawed at me and I just had to write something with...a slightly different Cloud. It's definetly not AC Cloud, but I do hope I managed to give him the snarky and dorky attitude I always though he had in 7.**

 **So warning N.1: Cloud might be OOC, Marlene and Denzel might be also...Sorry.**

 **Warning N.2 : It turned out to be something saccharine...so beware of the fluff...and it turned into a somewhat tentative style change. **

**Warning N.3 : Ambigious Tifa/Cloud pairing, my headcannon would always pair them together, but that's how my boat floats. Your's can float however you want, so they can be flatmates, co-parents without being involved, a couple, or whatever... **

**Warning N.4: This series might turn into a series of oneshots and drabbles across the FFVII timeline, in a somewhat fearfull yet excited honour to the remake. It will also be sporadic updates. **

**There are no OCs in this drabble, merely cameos.**

 **So enjoy (hopefully) and as always constructive critisism is always welcomed.**

* * *

 _ **Ficklet 1: Congratulations! It's...**_

"Lunchbox?"

"Check,"

"Check!"

"Homework?"

"Done! "

"Yup."

"I meant, is it in your schoolbag..."

"Of course it is! Where else would it be?"

"On the coffee table for instance," glowing blue eyes lazily stared at the aforementioned loose paper.

"Oops," she sheepishly replied, sauntering to the table and stuffing the homework in the soft pink backpack. It was the same soft pink as the ribbon adorning her unusual low ponytail.

"Denz? Aren't you forgetting something?" the boy paused midway through the door and paused. He frowned, "Not that i know of?" he trailed off.

The adult hummed, "Tell you what, I'll give you a hint. It starts with a 'P' and ends with an 'R'," the man had by the leaned on the wall and crossed his arms. He was the picture of patience and he clearly had no intention of stepping outside before the riddle was solved.

"'P'... 'P... Oh! Sh–"

" Language..."

"–iiih...aaaahh...schnitzel?" he meekly stated. It was both a question and an apology rolled in one.

"Shnitzel indeed," the blond said, covering his laugh in a cough."Go get your poster," he softly ordered, shaking his head in bemusement.

The boy bolted, sneakers screeching on the floor as he headed to his bedroom.

"All set kiddo?" the leather clad man asked, taking the school bag and lunch from the little girl as he started walking towards the drive way.

"I'm sure I am now!" she chirped, waiting patiently for her adoptive brother while her guardian packed her stuff in the storing compartment of a sleek black motorcycle.

"Got it, ready to go too!" piped the mousey child, grinning and almost tripping on his shoe laces as he abruptly turned to lock the front door behind him.

Faintly smiling, the man repeated the procedure with the additional bags and closed the compartment. He then proceeded to tug at the helmets of said children. Deeming then satisfying secured he tugged a second, this time on the seatbelt of the sidecar, before revving up the motorcycle."All right then... Let's mosey."

Edge's morning traffic, in his opinion, was not as bad as Midgar's traffic back in the time, if his patchy memory was to serve.

It couldn't quite stand up to the hellish nightmare that was rush hour Midgar.

Monday morning traffic however, was extremely close to it. Had he closed his eyes –Not that he would– he could almost feel like he was back there. Cursing, honking...good times.

In truth, he'd like to join in the producing a cornucopia of other colourful words to express his hatred for this, and for the person driving 20 km/h bellow the speed limit on the fast lane...but he'd risk getting an hear full from Tifa and then Barret for corrupting his baby girl.

But let's be honest, one day with Cid was enough to cover the basics and he hardly thought he'd teach her something new...

He could, considering there was so much noise around they probably wouldn't hear him mutter but...he could see the school well within his reach.

The blond smirked, fifteen minutes to spare. A well deserved pat on the back was in order.

Killing the engine and getting off of Fenrir with grace he would never realised he had, he helped the kids with their helmets and popped the motorcycle's storing compartment open.

Grabbing the pink backpack and the ("awesome warrior princess, Celes. Marlene's favourite Cloud, duh!"

"Celes, got it Yuffie. You can stop with the why she is a badass speech anytime now...") lunchbox and giving it to said child.

Once the brunette had secured everything, he smiled and bent down to hug her, uttering a warm, "have a nice day, Marlene."

She beamed a thousand watts smile and the blond then turned to Denzel, whom was already strapping his school bag with too many pins from some obscure Wutaian TV show –Anime maybe?– and groping around for his lunch from Fenrir's compartment. He ruffled the kid's hair – he's apparently too old for hugs in front of the school gate now – and smirked, "knock 'em dead Denz."

A proud smile light up Denzel's face and he and Marlene chorused a, "bye Cloud!" before running to their friends.

He turned and smiled picking up bits and pieces of their discussion as he locked the bikes' compartment. Apparently his bike was cool.

Their friends had taste...He liked them already.

* * *

Cloud came home after going grocery shopping and mentally thanked Tifa for teaching him how to not burn eggs and bacon.

He'd need to practice his cooking skills, a month without Tifa was going to be rough and so far so good, but he couldn't expect them to eat eggs and bacon every morning.

They could eat cereals...oatmeal...and yeah he'll have to brainstorm with the kids. He huffed at the thought and closed the front door with his foot, somehow managing to juggle his key in his too full arms.

She was supposed to come home after two weeks, after taking a look at the new vineyard in Gongaga, apparently they made good wine and though shipping might cost more, variety was something hailed in the Seventh Heaven.. She had also checked the tequila down in Costa. So two days to check equipment quality, industry... Whatever else she had to check ("I'm nothing if not an informed buyer," she winked) plus one for the contract ("If running a business taught me anything, it's to always read the fine prints," she hummed and he couldn't help but nod his head, "Don't I know it.") and a few hours to travel from Costa to Gongaga, courtesy of Cid... And rinse and repeat. So around six days for business and a day at Cid's and Shera's plus the flight back home, so a week give or take, at most.

When had they ever been lucky though?

A storm had it Rocket Town and the surrounding areas rather hard and apparently, "a stupid Jack#$ f^$#ing left the hangar open! MOTHERF&#$^ !" followed by a garbled mess of curses and screams. Tifa took the phone by then, and he morbidly wondered if Cid would have an aneurysm before or after hearing the excuse for the soon to be ex-employee.

"Cloud, the Shera suffered some structural damage and–"

"You moronic piece of–" what sounded like some sort of can hit something rather loudly, resounding in the hanger, followed by repetitive and slowly fading thumping sound could be hear.

"–and," Tifa sighed, as she probably walked away from the crime scene, "it's going to take a while to repair."

"How long are we talking about?"

"A week, maybe? To be honest I'm not sure, but I'm thinking of calling Costa's ferries and see if their up and running." Though he couldn't see her, he imagined she was gnawing her lower lip.

"If they are I'll come pick you up at Junon." It wasn't a discussion.

He heard the smile in her voice as she said, "Deal, think you can hold the fort till then?"

"Sure."

The conversation then turned into easy chatter that lasted an hour long.

Later that day, he had received a text stating that Costa and the docks were in no shape or form ready for travel. She had quickly followed up by sending another apology text, "I'm sorry..." – it read – "I think I'm not going to make it... but I'll be coming home around the same time as Barret so there's at least something to look forward to right?"

Cloud shrugged, how hard could it be? He was going to miss her, but it was only for a little while. "Yeah," he typed back, "Say hi to him and Cid from me and the kids."

After a while, he sent another text, "Take that time to relax, Tifa, we'll be fine."

Famous last words.

* * *

Inventory... Check

Clean glasses, cups, tumblers, mugs... Etcetera... Check

Tables are set and cleaned, chairs are down...

Yeah, this looks okay. He'd done it many times before... And he'd already checked his entire bar related to-do list... And crap the kids.

Well, he was not fashionably late; he did however manage quite an entrance, if the murmurs of, "cool" and "awesome" were to be believed.

He scanned the double doors for any signs of the children and there they were admits the throng of other students running from the school, from "pure boredom" if one of Denzel's friends was to be believed, he couldn't quite remember his name, was it Matt? Martin? He should really pay attention more.

It turned out to be Zidane. Damnit not even close.

"How was school," Cloud asked determined to honour traditional snacks after school pre-emptively made by Tifa

("Cloud, your real nemesis is the kitchen, not Sephiroth," she stared shock colouring her words.

"...Tifa, I'm not going to be bested by an oven," he grumbled

"Could've fooled me," she muttered)

"Missus Tilmitt, gave our test results!" She paused for suspense, waiting until both blue eyes were on her. Chuckling, Denzel made an obligatory drum roll, fingers rapidly thumping agains the counter. "I got an A! " Marlene cried and Denzel whooped as he high-fived her.

"You did good," he mumbled ruffling her hair.

She grinned flushed a bit from the excitement and continued munching with gusto her humus covered carrot.

He leaned against the counter and watched bemused at the kids. He gave them healthy snacks and they were ecstatic. But then...Life was hard on all of them after meteor maybe that's why they weren't that picky...

"Denzel?" he said in lieu of thinking to deeply.

Blue eyes crinkled as a shy smile wormed it's way on his face,"I think my presentation went well...I was kinda nervous at first, but... "he stopped to chew his broccoli and finished proudly saying, "I didn't stumble or Anything!"

Another round of high-fives, and the girl asked as he unconsciously reached to wipe the hummus streaking down her chin with a napkin.

"How about you Cloud?" she giggled at his fussing.

The man leaned again on the counter, his arms folding to support his weight.

"Well, I got good news and bad news"

The kids glanced at each other uneasily.

"What's the good news," Denzel asked tentatively, as Marlene creased her eyebrows. A reassuring smile – or what was actually a microscopic curve of his lips – from their hero was all it took to drain all the tension from their bodies.

"Well, Tifa has deemed the new products acceptable... And," he drew out internally chuckling as impatience shown in their eyes, "Barret's coming back in a month."

A laugh of delight bounced in the kitchen, as well as bits of hummus and other veggies, while she scrambled to hug Cloud, whom had anticipated the action and bend down just in time to catch her.

"So what's the bad news," the little girl asked around his neck. He pulled her slightly away from his neck meeting her eyes and then Denzel's.

"Tifa got stuck in Rocket Town because of a storm," the blond hurriedly continued his sentence, feeling Marlene stiffen in his arms and seeing Denzel's blue eyes widening," She's fine and she'll be back also in a month."

"So no parental supervision?" Denzel gave a teasing smile defusing the atmosphere.

He snorted while politely ignoring the quiet snickers Marlene tried to stifle in the fabric of his shirt.

"Not quite, she's going to join in the phone calls before bed time" – just like Barret did. Just like he now did whilst in long deliveries that kept him from coming home in time to tuck them in.

The kids nodded and apparently, that was that. He lowered the girl on her stool and he stared at the kids, sitting across from him. They took it all in stride and regaled him with tales of who did what in school and what they did and had to do for each of their classes...

They really were great kids.

Upon seeing his face the kids gave him toothy grins.

* * *

"Umm...What is this?" the boy prodded the... Gray lump in the soggy substance.

"... Soup... Maybe?" the girl lifted her spoon letting the unknown substance drip in her bowl.

"... " It turns out the oven didn't best, him, but a simple recipe did. Who'd a thought?

He lifted his own spoon and tasted it under twin sets of horrified eyes. It was watery and tasteless stew...They gasped as he went for another spoonful. "Great kids, right?" he sardonically thought. He was learning on the fly here, the least they could do was...well not kick him when he's down.

He chewed pensively, waiting for the kids to accept the fact that this was what they'd eat today. You'd think they were snobby critics by the look on their faces. It actually was in fact edible. It just wasn't Tifa quality.

The kids followed his example and were surprised when it didn't taste as awful as it looked.

Still, blue and brown met and vowed to coach their guardian in the kitchen, if they were ever going to survive for a month.

From then on, making supper was a family activity.

At least until Tifa came back.

* * *

Manning the bar was at least a reprieve.

This he knew how to do.

Mixing cocktails with Marlene and having Denzel help him on the floor always helped, and he loved them fiercely for always wanting to help... And he just plain loved them any other moment ... But, sometimes...

Though they acted mature for their age, they were still kids. So they sometimes were rather blunt in their remarks to habitual patrons.

"Why do you always wear glasses mister," the brunette asked, curiosity finally winning over her usual polite demeanour.

"Or umm...Goggles," the other brunet followed up, asking the second man, albeit in a more reserved as he was not as familiar with them as Marlene was.

"I mean there's not much light in the bar anyways," she pushed on, quickly succeeding Denzel's question with her own, effectively accosting both Turks.

Bobbing his head, the boy continued, confidence mounting, "And... You drive a car..."

"Yeah good point, Denz! You drive a car... And it's night time!"

The blond, stoically went behind the bar counter towards the beer tap, filled it leaving just the right amount of froth with practice ease, and ignored the Turks' "Help Us" signal.

Yeah...Great kids...

"He's making that face again. He's not gonna help us, yo," the redhead muttered.

A grunt from his partner was the only answer he got.

What face?

* * *

"Bed time, kids"

"But... Clooooooouuuuuuud!" they chorused together while dialling the puppy eyes to maximum. Seriously did they practice this?

He arched an eyebrow as he crossed his arms...And they marched, towards the stairs and turned with expecting eyes.

Apparently he got that mysterious face again on his features as he heard a young woman whisper to her friend that, "you should look at his face, it's so sweet!"

He nodded at the kids, steadfastly ignoring the coos from his female patrons, and shooed them, waiting exactly one hour, taking orders in the meantime, as the kids took a bath, brush their teeth and talked with Barret and Tifa before going upstairs.

"Rude, mind watching the bar for a bit?" he asked him when time was up.

"What's in it for us, yo?" quipped the redhead instead.

He stared at their glasses pointedly until they got the hint and he received a nod and thumbs up from Rude and Reno respectively.

He swiftly retreated to their bedroom and as he entered the room, two expectant faces waited for him. He tucked then one at a time and kissed then good night.

The rest of the night until closing time was uneventful.

* * *

Over the weeks he learned to vary the food packed in their lunchbox and eventually he and the kids learned to minimize any and all damages to the damage and manage to make food that actually tasted something.

He also learned their sandwich preferences, "No mustard, please, thank you, Da–" the child nervously squeaked and hastily covered up his slip, "–Umm, Cloud!" The man peered over his lashes looking at the flushing face of a mortified ten year old who apparently thought that if he tried hard enough the table might swallow him whole, if the way he pressed his face on it said anything. Mercifully, the hero who had thrice defeated the legendary Sephiroth, now –temporarily– turned single parent, simply blinked and hummed to say he had heard the request and didn't mention the slip.

"No crust for me!" he heard a disembodied voice cry from upstairs, slicing the embarrassed silence, followed by rapid footsteps that neared the kitchen.

Marlene ran up to him and gave him a hug before plopping down to eat her cereal with a now composed Denzel at her side.

Finished with packing their lunch, he joined them with a cup of coffee.

He never pegged himself to be quite the sap but, he still couldn't help but wonder what he did to have them.

Marlene, looked up as he stared at them, and gave him her trademark beaming smile. It was echoed by lesser but no less warmer smile from Denzel, who had also looked up from his orange juice.

* * *

"Clooooooud"

The aforementioned blond stopped cleaning the kitchen as he heard his name turned into two syllables in a way only children seemed to be capable of doing.

He was sure that sort of whine was a skill encrypted in their genes and only activated when one was a child.

He shared a look with Denzel who simply shook his head and went back to reading his book.

So much for a slow Saturday morning...

Cloud scratched his neck and took the stairs two at a time.

"What's wrong Marlene?"

"I need help," she asked holding up a brush and her pink ribbon.

Oh...that's' right, she was going to a friend's house for a birthday party, "Rosa, right?"

"Rosie," she corrected, though her grin showed she was happy he remembered, "she doesn't like Rosa to serious..to," her eyebrows scrunched as a pensive pout marred her face, "to...For...Formal?"

"Yeah, formal"

He remembered how Tifa was supposed to do her hair and choose a dress according to a theme.

He looked at Marlene's hopeful doe eyes and capitulated. Guess Fenrir's tuned up was going to have to wait.

He grabbed the brush and ribbon from her tiny hand and she quickly flopped down on her bed, and adjusted herself so her legs were crisscrossed and her back was turned to the blond.

"Alright, it's time to man up Strife and learn how to braid hair properly," the warrior thought.

He sat down, feeling the mattress dip under his weight and propped his back on the headboard. His eyes narrowed; His face was the picture of a man on a mission.

His movements were precise, no brush stroke was unneeded, and before long he had stiffly brushed her long hair of all tangles.

Now for the tricky part...

He sighed and got a quizzical albeit sleepy look from Marlene, which had, at a certain point, began to relax and slump on his chest.

"I'm not sure was I'm doing here, but I promise I'll try my best."

"Understatment of the year", he wryly thought.

The girl tilted her head to the side her hand teasing her lips, much like Tifa would when she thought about something, "Maybe we can start with the dress instead?"

Cloud stood up heading towards the closet, "Sure, what's the theme?"

"Princesses," she laughed as she quickly bounded towards her guardian, her usual amount of cheeriness skyrocketing again.

He chuckled, "I'm guessing Rosie said no to Warrior Princess theme?"

"Yeah...but that's okay! " she shrugged in a "what will you do kind of way". It was endearing and even if it wasn't what she wanted she respect her friend and was still enthusiastic about it all.

That pretty much set the tone of his morning. He picked up various dresses, accessories until they found the right dress.

"How about this?" he pulled a soft silk dress, with matching ballerina shoes, laying them down on the bed for further inspection.

She glanced up judging it, and it seemed to pass whatever criteria she had as she nodded firmly and questioned his sudden fashion sense.

He shrugged and nervously ran his hand in his head, shifting his blond fringe from his face.

Cloud would never tell Marlene his assurance with fashion came from his brief stint as a cross dresser and from the lengthy excruciating details of what was important in a dress between a seamstress and a tailor.

Marlene changed and sat back down, this time however towards the vanity.

Alright moment of truth...

He was thankfully a quick study and he was really grateful to Denzel, who had ended up with them in this new venture, curiosity eating away at him.

("It's been two hours guys, what are you doing?" he peered in the room blue eyes widening at the state of the room.

"Preparing" Cloud had said, something in his voice told him he was frustred with something.

"Umm need any help?"

The duo had stopped fussing with the hairdo in progress for a moment, and turned hopeful eyes towards Denzel.

The boy grinned and upon learning that Cloud didn't know how to braid anything to save his life, Cloud and Marlene scooted next to him on the bed, and watched a few videos showing them step by step how to make a slighlty more complicated braid, on a to small screen.

"Rewind that a bit, Denz... Right there, thanks." )

After a few replays and retries, Cloud inspected his handiwork.

He looked at Marlene watching her reaction queenly.

She did not disappoint," It's really pretty thank you, thank you Cloud! Can you take my picture and send it to daddy and Tifa?"

Hell yes he could, he did a good job. A damn good job.

* * *

He sort of wished Tifa would be back by now. In truth she'd be back tomorrow, too late for this event...

So, instead of tending to the bar, tuning up Fenrir, or doing something anything remotely productive... He was here.

Cloud patiently waited shadowed by two children, in the hallway of their school. Makeshifts chairs were lined up in front of each classroom, making it look like an endless waiting room filled with curious parents.

The blond steadfastly avoided eye contact with the gossiping mother's and the occasional star struck father, by putting up his best unapproachable stoic mask.

By unapproachable he of course meant, he glared at anyone who so much approached them, and let his unsettling glowing eyes do the talking.

He probably scared a lot of them if the few shifty glances he felt were anything to go by, but he was long past being pleasant.

If he had to hear one more person gush some nonsensical praising or had to suffer a frankly irritating invasion of personal space for a photo one more time...Well he's not sure what he'd do but hopefully, nothing too traumatic.

He hated parent teacher's conference.

Loathed it really.

Glancing at Denzel who was wringing his now wrinkled t-shirt with his hands, he eased up. Bear it for him.

"Mr Strife?"

The bear of a man that stood in front of him looked serious, though he could see from the crinkle in his eyes that he was used to smiling, snapped him from his thoughts.

Cloud nodded and the bearded man stepped shaking his hand firmly.

Well at least, he wasn't intimidated by him and he didn't look at him in awe.

Good start.

The man ("Mr. Baldesion" –a beat– "A pleasure," the teacher said. "Likewise") waved his hand beckoning him to follow him into the now vacant classroom.

The blond nodded and patted Denzel's head, easing the child's nerves, before following the teacher.

"Please have a seat"

He stepped into the classroom, leaving Marlene and Denzel waiting for him to finish talking with Denzel's homeroom teacher and then to Marlene's, before going back home. Then and only then, would they finally be home and he'd be out of the clean dress pants and fitted shirt.

("You have something that isn't sweats, t-shirt or combat suits!?"

"Yes Denzel, I do"

"But why–" She gasped, "You even have nice shoes too!"

"Really Marlene? You too?" he in fact had a fitted suit, ties and other clothes for various occasion. If life ever successfully rammed a lesson in him it was be prepared for anything. )

He'd spent five minutes talking about Denzel's grades and what happened in the classroom. Cloud nodded and finally curtly said, "with all due respect, I presume you know what you are doing and are giving my child the best education you can... I also know his grades... What I do want to know and do not know is if he gets along with the other students?" he knew Denzel was smart, probably smarter than he ever was at his age.

What he really worried about was his shyness.

He did have friends, but did he have any in class? Was he picked on? Teased? He knew the kid had thick skin and could defend himself...but still didn't mean he had to.

The teacher, up until now had droned on and had been detached from all of it, looked at him and let out a booming laughter.

His eye twitched, his ego might need a phoenix down after that one.

"I apologize," Mr. Baldesion said, once he regained control of himself, "I must admit Mr. Strife, I had thought you simply wanted to know my efficiency as a teacher and if your child's performance was adequate" Cloud had checked the curriculum of what each of his kids were supposed to be learning and it looked, so far, legitimate but...what did he know, he was a backwater kid that enrolled in the military as teenager. He was so far out of his depth; it wasn't even funny.

"I seem to have misjudged you," the older man looked pleased and surprised all rolled in one and he couldn't help thinking that, that sentence pretty much summed up his life.

Needless to say, the meeting went smoother and went far more efficiently after this. In the end he worried for nothing. It turns out the kid had plenty of friends, and had some admirers of his own.

The teacher had then adjourned the meeting and smiled at the blond. "Careful your face doesn't stick that way," he laughed a new boisterously, "wouldn't want to be approachable after all."

Bemused, Cloud nodded and schooled his features. As he exited the classroom he gave a thumbs' up to Denzel.

He smothered a laugh when his kid sighed in relief and prodded him to know if he knew something embarrassing about him.

He heard the story of the time he had fallen asleep in class and drooled on his book. The teacher had awoken him with a projectile in the form of chalk...but Denzel didn't need to know that he knew and that he had actually laughed at the story.

* * *

Ms. Tilmitt was a young woman. Probably as old as he was, but she acted, like a teenager. She was bouncy, peppy and it felt like he was getting it by an endless supply of rainbow and sunshine energy... And she was also staring at him with awe... Damn...

Alright let's beat some professionalism into this.

He offered his hand and the teacher belatedly shook it and had dazedly showed him were to sit.

"I just need to clean the air a bit..." Ms. Tilmitt said breathlessly, "I'm a huge fan of yours and you really clean up good!" she gave an appreciated hum, patted him on the shoulder and then clapped her hands.

"Alright, on to business!" gone was the star struck woman. Miss Tilmitt now looked as professional as she could, considering her looks.

He repressed a sigh, roll with it.

"Grades are... Great, always on time with her homework –"

"– And is she happy? I mean in school and class?"

"As far as I know?" she blinked and her face light up,"Yes"

Good and,"does she have fun?"

"Well, I see her running around at recess, doing harmless pranks with her brother sometimes... So yes," Ms. Tilmitt gasped and nervously added, "but don't worry, she's not disrupting the class or anything and she never goes too far! You're little girl's really attentive to other people's feelings"

He almost corrected her, Marlene was Barret's child, and he was at best the socially awkward uncle, at worst a pitiful excuse of a caregiver...never mind, just roll with it, besides what's important is, Marlene is happy.

"Well then Mr. Strife that's all I had to say," she dismissed him after some time,

"Thank you for coming," she shook his hand again, enthusiastically, "Oh and the proud father look? It suits you better than broody and mysterious but hey, It's an awesome look too you don't get me wrong!"

"... Right"

He stepped out of the classroom, her words finally slapping him in the face. At that moment he realized his face involuntarily shifted at the sight of ...well his kids really.

They stood up and slipped their hands hind his, firmly clasping.

"It's about time, dad," he heard Denzel grumble under his breath and felt his kid tug his arms slightly. His ears were burning but he did not try to cover up his slip this time. "What he said. Come on, let's go home!" she grinned swinging their arms in tandem with their steps.

Damn, everybody already knew what that face meant, he was the last one to get it.

"You know it's kinda late–" his eldest said.

His youngest eyes' gleamed,"too late to cook so–"

The children looked at him hopefully.

Damnit, they even knew he was more likely to cave to their demands during these moments...

"Pizza it is then... "

When did he miss the congratulatory banners proclaiming the birth of his children he wondered?


End file.
